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Lugar y fecha de nacimiento. Cliff Gorman (1936 - ) Actor Born: October 13, 1936, Jamaica Queens, NY Education: University of New Mexico; UCLA, Los Angeles, CA; NYU (education) Unmistakable character with a prominent chin, a shock of thick, dark hair, and eyebrows to match. An explosive performer, Gorman has typically played tough, loud-mouthed and somewhat sleazy cops and crooks, or overly confident and rather obnoxious studs who aren't as attractive as they think. After receiving a degree in education from NYU, he worked as a truck and ambulance driver, and was also employed by a collection agency and as a probation officer for young delinquents. He began acting off-Broadway in the mid-60s and was part of Jerome Robbins' American Theatre Laboratory from 1966- 67. In 1968, Gorman played an Obie-winning breakthrough role in the controversial landmark play, The Boys in the Band. Important in dramatizing gay themes and yet often reviled for its vitriolic portrait of a group of self-hating gay men, Boys attracted a great deal of attention, not least for Gorman's lisping and limp-wristed Emory (Who do you have to fuck to get a drink around here?). Gorman, who had made his screen debut in George Cukor's JUSTINE (1969), recreated Emory for the stagy 1969 film version. He followed up with another high-profile stage role: Lenny Bruce in Lenny (1972). As the foul-mouthed, bitterly hilarious, trailblazing and ultimately tragic standup comic, Gorman won a Tony and a Drama Desk Award for this showcase role. Gorman lost the role to Dustin Hoffman for Bob Fosse's screen LENNY, but feature work picked up with the lead in COPS AND ROBBERS (1973). (Fosse later cast him in a very Bruce-like role in EL SHOW DEBE SEGUIR (1979)). While not a prolific actor, Gorman's roles are usually large and invariably vivid, as in HOFFA (1992) as the club owner who insults the eponymous anti-hero. He was especially splendid chasing Jill Clayburgh in UNA MUJER DESCASADA (1978). Gorman has periodically returned to the stage. His sharp, urban image suited him for Neil Simon banter; he received a Tony nomination for his supporting work in Chapter Two (1978) and later replaced Ron Liebman in Doubles (1985). TV work, meanwhile, ranged from telefilms such as BRINK'S: THE GREAT ROBBERY (1976) to THE BUNKER (1981), in which he played Joseph Goebbels. Gorman first played Detective Sgt. Aaron Greenberg opposite Richard Crenna's Lt. Frank Janek in the TV movie DOUBLETAKE (1985); the two weathered actors reprised the roles for the sequels, INTERNAL AFFAIRS (1986), VESTIGIO DE HONOR (1990) and A SILENT BETRAYAL (1994).
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